Family's horror as pet dog killed in hit and run

A DISTRAUGHT family has spoken of the horrifying moment their beloved pet dog was run over and killed in a hit-and-run incident at a Worcester supermarket.

One-year-old shih tzu Pudsey Bear, was hit after he escaped from his lead at Tesco in Millwood Drive, Warndon Villages.

His devastated owner, Shaz Jefferies, of Threshfield Drive, Warndon Villages, said the £500 dog ran into the store as she and other members of the public tried desperately to catch him after a pin broke on his collar. Pudsey ran out of the store and stood in the middle of the road, on a zebra crossing and was hit by a maroon saloon car driving into the supermarket at about 3.40pm on Thursday, June 6.

Ms Jefferies said: “He was our baby and we all adored him. I was shouting ‘Stop him! Stop him!’ “It all happened so quickly but the driver had enough time to see the dog. Pudsey was wearing a black bow and a sparkling collar. As soon as the sun hits that collar it’s like a neon Christmas tree. “I went to pick him up afterwards and he bit me and yelped. It was the first time he had ever bitten me. The driver just didn’t stop.”

The 44-year-old said her only consolation was that it was not one of her children who was killed and had not seen the incident.

She had been collecting her daughter Shakira from Tesco after she left Lyppard Grange Primary School for the day. A workman broke the news to Shakira that Pudsey had been hit by a car while a good Samaritan drove Ms Jefferies to nearby Ambleside Veterinary Clinic in the hope the dog could be saved. Shakira said: “I hate going past Tesco now. It brings back the memory of a stranger telling me Pudsey had been run over.”

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Ms Jefferies said her whole family was devastated, including her partner of seven years, Dave Jarvis, and her three children Josh, aged 13, Kieran, 12, and Shakira, 10. None of them had eaten for days and she said her partner had “cried like a baby”.

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She said Pudsey had a unique bond with her son Kieran, who has autism and ADHD, helping him to communicate. Ms Jefferies, who says she now cannot bear to go near Tesco, said: “He was saying ‘make him better, you can mend anything’. He doesn’t understand. We just tell him ‘Pudsey is in the sky’.”

Tesco was unavailable for comment yesterday. Ms Jefferies said she had not yet reported

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